Los Angeles County Cities Have Highest Sales Taxes In The State, Including 10.75 Percent In Pico Rivera And South Gate

Updated after the jump with comments from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce's CEO, who says high sales taxes could hurt car sales. Originally posted at 1:38 p.m.

Eleven cents on the dollar in sales tax? Believe that. As five California cities, including two in Southern California, prepare to raise their sales taxes Oct. 1, we took a look at the statewide list of tax rates and found -- surprise -- municipalities in Los Angeles County have the highest rates in the nation. Some of them even have a rate of nearly 11 cents, or more than $1 in every $10 you spend. Of the five cities in the Golden State with sales tax rates higher than 10 percent, all five are in L.A. County. They include:

-Pico Rivera, at 10.75 percent.

-South Gate, at 10.75 percent.

-Avalon, at 10.25 percent.

-El Monte, at 10.25 percent.

-Inglewood, at 10.25 percent.

Your beloved city of L.A. is near the top, but not at the top. Sales tax here is 9.75. The reviled city of Bell, where a city manager was taking home nearly $1.5 million in salary? Same deal -- high, but not highest: 9.75. (See the entire list of municipal sales tax rates in PDF here).

Why do L.A. County municipalities dominate the high-tax bracket? We don't know. We have a call in at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. We'll let you know what we hear.

[Updated here]: Chamber CEO Gary Toebben tells us that shoppers usually don't discriminate against cities because of their sales tax ... unless they're buying big-ticket items such as cars.

"On larger items," he says, "if you're purchasing a $20,000 or $30,000 car you will notice that and you may have a tendency to go to a city where sales tax on car sales is lower."

By the way, those Southern California cities that voted to increase their sales taxes for Oct. 1 include Calexico, which gets a half-cent bump to 9.25 percent, and Cathedral City, which goes up 1 cent to 9.75 percent. The base statewide sales tax is 8.25 percent. Many cities have this rate.

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